Chapter 6 - The Brother Nobody Knew Existed
His name was Adrian Vale.
Matteo had heard the name once.
When he was eight.
Then never again.
Their father had told him Adrian died in infancy.
The photograph proved otherwise.
Adrian was alive.
Thirty-two years old.
Tied to a chair.
Someone had tortured him.
Matteo stood in the dark study, staring at the image.
Norah sat beside him.
“You can save him.”
“How?”
“You always do.”
Her confidence frightened him.
“Not always.”
She tilted her head.
“Mom says you saved people.”
“Your mother knew a different man.”
“No.”
Norah took his hand.
“You're the same.”
He looked at her.
She smiled.
“You just forgot.”
Three hours later, Matteo found Adrian.
An abandoned factory.
Five men.
No guards outside.
Too easy.
It was a trap.
Matteo knew it.
He entered anyway.
Adrian was in the center.
Alive.
Then the doors locked.
The lights came on.
The council stood around him.
Six men and women who had controlled the Vale network for decades.
At the center was Matteo's mother.
Matteo stared.
“You.”
She looked broken.
“I tried to stop them.”
“Then stop them.”
“I can't.”
Adrian lifted his head.
“Matteo.”
His voice was weak.
“Don't trust her.”
His mother closed her eyes.
The council leader smiled.
“The family finally returns.”
Matteo raised his weapon.
“You'll die before you touch the children.”
The leader laughed.
“You think you're protecting them.”
“You are.”
“No.”
He pointed toward Adrian.
“They are protecting you.”
Matteo frowned.
“What?”
“The children are legal heirs.”
Adrian shook his head.
“That's not the real reason.”
The council leader looked annoyed.
Adrian continued.
“Lucia discovered the council had been laundering money through the trust.”
Matteo stared.
“They used your father.”
“Yes.”
“They used Calvin.”
“Yes.”
“They used my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Then Lucia…”
“Found the truth.”
“And they killed her.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Matteo.
“Lucia escaped.”
Matteo froze.
“What?”
“She was alive.”
“No.”
“She survived the shooting.”
“How?”
“Grace.”
Matteo looked back.
Grace had secretly entered the warehouse.
She ran toward them.
“Matteo.”
He stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“All these years?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Grace began crying.
“She died two months later.”
Matteo's heart stopped.
“How?”
“She was sick.”
“From the shooting?”
“Yes.”
“Did she suffer?”
Grace nodded.
“But she gave me one instruction.”
“What?”
“Never let the council find Norah.”
Matteo looked down.
Norah.
Seven years old.
Brave.
Hungry.
Carrying two newborn babies through a supermarket.
The child who had walked into his life holding Lucia's key.
The entire war was about her.
But not because of the trust.
Because Lucia had hidden the final ledger inside the key.
Matteo realized it.
“Open your hand.”
Norah looked at him.
“What?”
“Your key.”
She handed it to him.
He turned it over.
The metal split.
Inside was a tiny memory chip.
The entire financial network.
Every bribe.
Every transaction.
Every name.
The council leader went pale.
“That's impossible.”
Matteo smiled.
“No.”
“It was destroyed.”
“Apparently not.”
He handed it to Adrian.
“Can you decode it?”
Adrian nodded.
“Give me ten minutes.”
The council leader reached for his weapon.
Matteo fired first.
The gun flew from his hand.
Security arrived.
One by one, the council members surrendered.
His mother collapsed into a chair.
Matteo approached her.
“Why?”
She cried.
“Your father threatened Adrian.”
“He was a baby.”
“I wanted to protect him.”
“You faked his death.”
“Yes.”
“You faked yours.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe everyone was gone.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You failed.”
She bowed her head.
“I know.”
Later, Adrian sat with Matteo.
“You don't look like him.”
“Who?”
“Our father.”
“Good.”
Adrian smiled.
“I think Lucia would have liked you.”
Matteo laughed.
“She hated my stubbornness.”
“She loved it.”
A noise came from the hallway.
Norah.
She held one baby.
“Mr. Matteo?”
“Yes?”
“Mom says I need to thank you.”
“You can thank me later.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
She approached him.
“I have to now.”
Then she hugged him.
Matteo froze.
He slowly put his arms around her.
He had spent twelve years protecting himself from grief.
A child had broken through the walls in less than a week.
That night, the hospital room was quiet.
Grace slept.
The twins slept.
Leon sat beside the window.
Norah curled up on a chair.
Matteo looked at them all.
He had never wanted a family.
Or so he had told himself.
Now he had one.
And the final threat was still alive.
Calvin Mercer had escaped.
He took the ledger's backup.
And he had one person left to use.
May you like
Patrick Bell.
Norah's biological father.
